Early Christian, Latin, or Basilican, dating from the edict of Constantine (A.D. 313) to the time of PopeGregory the Great, a chronology, however, which is somewhat obscure. An example is Saint Paul-without-the-Walls, Rome. In England, this same style, modified by the Celtic, formed the Anglo-Saxon.

Byzantine, of which examples are numerous, with particular reference to Saint Sophia’s, Constantinople, and Saint Mark’s, Venice, Italy. It dates approximately from the time of Justinian. Under Justinian as emperor the architects Anthemius and Isodorus designed its principal examples.

Gothic, beginning at the end of the 12th century, before the decline of Romanesque. It includes numerous sub-styles such as English and French Gothic. An example of pure Gothic in the Cathedral of Saint Stephen’s, Vienna. Lincoln Cathedral, an example of Early EnglishGothic, is said to have been the beginning of this particular style, among the exponents of which Alan of Walsingham was responsible for the finest examples of Decorated English Gothic. Robert de Coucey designed the FrenchGothiccathedral of Rheims.

Modern ecclesiastical architecture begins with a Gothic revival in the early 20th century, associated principally with the name of Augustus Welby Pugin through the impetus which he had given it during his time. Other names distinguished in modern ecclesiastical art are those of Bentley, Scott, McGinnis, Walsh, Monaghan, and Rambusch.

Gothic is the style generally accepted for ecclesiastical building, since the present era is one of appraisal and criticism, and there are, in consequence, no new striking or individual styles. Consult special articles on these styles of architecture and on architectural terms such as apse, arch, architrave, etc.